Do You Remember?
by TheRoseShadow21
Summary: A new girl at Yuji's school , Yuko , and her parents become torches and vanish within a week, leaving behind Eika , Yuko's twin. But despite being an ordinary girl who knows nothing of Flame Hazes and Torches , Eika still remembers her family...
1. Prologue

**An idea that I had for AGES but never had time to get around to until now. **

**I should point out that this fanfic pretty much ignores series does however incorporate things from the S series…which you will see in this prologue where we sort-of meet my OC Eika.**

**Enjoy, Review and remember I only own my OCs and this plot.**

"What do you mean, you don't know?Junko Oogami!Goes to your school, bout my height, light brown hair shorter than mine and Nee-Chan's …"The girl standing outside at the shop glared at Yukio was sure he knew her. Perhaps she lived on his street? Yes. His mum was friends with hers…Takahashi-san that was it.

"Takahashi-san, I am sure that there is no such person as Junko Oogami." Saying the name triggered something .a faint memory of a dream…back during that incident in the park. He remembered waking up in a hospital and finding a bracelet made up of pink and green stones in his a voice , but couldn't place it as being someone's he'd ever known. Despite the sadness he felt when looking at it, was sure it meant nothing, really, but in order to get this crazy neighbour of his away, he took it out of his pocket and told her the story behind it- the assumed story anyway.

The girl thought about it , then took the camera that hung around her neck on a blue chain and took at least 3 pictures of it.

"What are you….?"

The girl narrowed her grey eyes at him.

"I'm proving that Junko-Chan did exist. " She turned and walked away fast, leaving a very confused Yukio standing outside the cake shop.

The girl fiddled with the long chain around her neck .She couldn't believe that he had forgotten her too. Her entire school. Her parents, Nee-Chan, Junko-Chan's school and even Junko-Chan's parents had forgotten that a girl with that name had ever existed.

Whatever it was that made it happen, Eika Takahashi hoped that it would never, ever happen to her.


	2. Introducing the Twins

**FIRST CHAPTER!Here you'll meet both of the Takahashi twins. **

**Please enjoy.**

Hayato Ike walked into the classroom, looking pretty pleased about something. He made a beeline for Yuji, Shana and the others, and then caught Kazumi's eyes. For a moment, his expression went surprised, and then it relaxed back into his unusually happy one.

"Happy New year, Yoshida-san."

"Happy new year, Ike-kun."

The rest of them said happy New Year to each other, and Ike kept smiling like a dopey clown. Finally, Yuji asked.

"Ike, why the hell are you smiling like that?"

"You'll see soon enough." And with that, he went to his seat-perfect timing as the teacher walked in and everyone else scrambled to their own chairs. Shana glared at the teacher, and opened her mouth to insult the teacher once again but stopped, as 2 girls walked into the class.

Or, to be precise, as one girl walked in and the other wheeled herself in on a wheel chair.

Kazumi gave Ike a sideways look. His smile had just gotten bigger. She turned to look at the girls. The one in the wheelchair had her dark brown hair cut short, and the curls of it bounced around her face. Her left leg was in a cast. The other girl had the same curly dark brown hair, but it was longer, and some of her hair was plaited to look like a headband .Both had grey-blue eyes that looked familiar, and both were wearing what everyone would assume was their old school's uniform. The long-haired girl had a camera on a green cord hanging around her neck.

The teacher wrote two names on the black board.

_**Yuko Takahashi**_

_**Eika Takahashi **_

The longer haired girl stepped forward.

"I'm Eika, and that's Yuko. But you can call me 're twins. We come from Yosegi City."

"We transferred here because of dad's job. Plus they have better medical care here, that's what Mum says." Yuko, who was clearly the wheelchair girl continued.

"Yuko is my Nee-Chan, older than me by 15 minutes. Her legs have always been weak, but she broke it just after we moved here."

"Yes , that's right."

"Nice to meet you." The twins said in unison.

The teacher seemed happy.

"Takashi-san , you should sit here , and as for you Taka-"

"Shouldn't you just call us by our first names? Or even better ,please call me Ei-chan."

Yuko facepalmed, the class giggled and the teacher blushed.

"Ei-chan…you can sit next to Hayato happens to be the only other spare table."

Ike turned to smile at Eika as she sat down. Beaming back, she whispered.

"Who would have thought we'd end up in the same class, aniki?"

_Aniki?_Yuji, Matake Ogata and Kazumi, who were all near enough to hear the brief exchange raised eyebrows and glanced at each other puzzled.

The first lesson went as normal. The people who happened to be sitting near to the twins would pepper them with questions. Through listening to this, Shana and the others learnt that the twins lived in Yosegi City that their birthday was in July. That they didn't see a difference between their old school and this one except that their old schools had lifts, which was helpful for had never transferred schools before.

Of course, the groups had their own questions. But they waited until lunchtime, when everyone else ran out of class or just went to another table to eat their lunches. Ike and Eika got up And went over to Yuko.

"Want to go on a tour of the school? I'm taking Ei-chan."

"Sure, Hayato-Kun." Yuko smiled up at him

Yuji, Shana, Kazumi, Ogata, Eita Tanaka and Keisaku Satou went and joined them.

"Can we help too, Ike-kun?" Kazumi asked.

"We can all eat lunch while walking, and besides we want to know just how you know these two."Ogata's eyes glinted mischievously.

"We'll explain," Eika smiled a huge smile. "Basically, Aniki's mum….."

"Basically, Hayato-Kun is our cousin." Yuko cut off her younger sister.

"Nee-Chan!"

Yuko glanced at the group.

"Ei-chan would have confused you with some long explanation .If you want to know anything else , ask me."

Eika could only glare.

Ike hurried to prevent any twin-shaped chaos.

"Shall we start then?" and with that, they started wandering around the school. They all introduced themselves to the twins. Eika was genuinely interested with Shana's name, not being able to work out how Yuji had got that out of "Yukari Hirai".She did however make nicknames for everyone else.

Satou was Kei-Chan, Tanaka was Naka-Chan, Kazumi was Mii-chan, and Ogata was Oga-chan and Yuji , she eventually decided was Yu-chan.

To which Yuji protested at

"That's what my mum calls me!"

"Well, that's convenient. Just like Oga-chan and Shana!"

Yuji sighed and shook his head. It seemed there was no reasoning with this friendly, if a little hyper girl. At least her sister was sensible.

Eika opened the zip to her bag, and pulled out…melon bread. Shana, who had said nothing for a while now, having opted to simply observe the twins smiled and laughed.

"You like melon bread too?" Shana was on her third.

"Yup."

Instantly the two girls started having a deep, profound discussion about melon bread and its many merits. All the others could do was giggle when they noticed. Most of them had never seen Shana as that sociable.

They eventually got to the stairs, but they ended up having to end the tour there. Eika had left Yuko's crutches in the classroom, and she was adamantly refusing to hike Yuko's wheelchair up 2 flights of stairs. So they went back to the room and sat there, laughing, exchanging jokes , conversations and childhood stories.

The rest of the day went along peacefully. Both the twins made fast friends with the other members , Yuko patiently answering the questions classes tended to throw at new kids , and Eika becoming the class's new "little sister" , nicknaming and stealing the hearts of pretty much everyone.

The end of the day came , Shana, Ike, Keisaku. Eita, Kazumi, Matake and the twins left the school together.

"Which way do you go home?" Yuko asked them.

"I always go to Yuji's house first before going home." Shana answered.

"I live in the other side of town." Kazumi said, pointing to where she was talking about

"So do us!Walk with us, Mii-chan!"

"Ok then. See you tomorrow then guys."

Yuji and the others waved as the 3 turned away. Then, Eika paused and turned.

"Hey, Shana-Chan, how did you get your nickname? You need to tell me tomorrow! I still don't get how you get "Shana "out of "Yukari , huh?" She giggled, turned back, and continued walking.

Although she joined in as normal with the usual conversations as she waked home with Yuji , Hayato , Ogata ,Eita and Keisaku , Shana could not help feeling just a little bit unsettled by the way Eika looked at her when saying that. Sure, over the course of the day she had been saying similar things, genuinely wondering, but even so.

Eventually, the group size reduced, and only Yuji and Shana were walking together , towards his house as normal.

"Yuji."

He turned.

"What's wrong?"

"She knows something."

Yuji's face didn't show any sign of having a clue.

"Who does?"

Shana sighed.

"Yuji, you are an idiot." She ran on ahead, trying to not show her unease.

"What? Shana, tell me!"

"Never mind!"

"Tell me!"

_**At the Takahashi house:**_

"Bye, Mii-chan"

"See you tomorrow, Yoshida-san" . Eika pushed her sister's wheelchair into their bungalow, and closed the door behind her.

"They all seem like nice people, don't you think? "Eika asked her sister.

"Hmm, I guess. It's only been a day though. Don't jump in there too fast, Ei-chan."

Eika pulled a face. "I'm not."

"We're back!" The twins yelled.

"Good day?" a female voice called from the kitchen

"Yeah!" they replied

They went into the bedroom the two of them shared. Carefully and slowly, Eika helped her sister onto her feet. She wobbled unsteadily as Eika guided her sister to the bed and made her sat down. The she opened their wardrobe, which had stickers all over it and peered into it.

"Nee-Chan, which clothes should I get?"

"Just the purple top and the black shorts will be fine."

Eika shuffled through the many clothes, and then flung out a lilac-and-violet striped t-shirt. It landed on Yuko's head.

Yuko pulled it off and sighed. She took of her school top and put on the t-shirt, then waited for Eika to find her shorts. When she did, she turned with a smile and said.

"Right, let's get you out of that school uniform!" As she helped Yuko get dressed, Eika hummed a song.

"Thanks, Ei-chan." Yuko said when they were finished." I'll get mum to make your sandwich."

"Cool." She handed Yuko the crutches and she limped out. Quickly, she got changed into a pink dress and rushed out.

Yuko was sitting at the kitchen table, eating her sandwich. A woman was standing at the worktable making a cup of tea, her dark hair tied into what was a severe bun, but was now somewhat messy.

"Hi Mum" Eika said. The woman turned round, brown eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiled.

"Eika-Chan! How was school? Yuko-Chan's been telling me you're becoming quite the popular one already."

Eika blushed. "Well…."

Both Yuko and their mum laughed.

"Come, eat your sandwich!"Yuko indicated the chair next to her. Eika sat down, picked it up , moved to take a bite.

The doorbell rang, at the same time as the jangling keys could be heard opening the front door.

"Akiko-san, Yuu, Eii, I'm back!"

Eika was up like a shot.

"Papa!"

_A few hours later_

"Nee-Chan?"

"Hmm?"

It was night-time, and the twins were in bed.

"Do you think anything bad can happen to us here?"

"What do you mean?"

"People picking on us. People fading out all of a sudden and being forgotten."

Yuko laughed softly.

"You know that Hayato-kun will take care of us."

"Yeah, Aniki is cool."

"Not to mention that people do not 'fade out'. I thought you'd grown out of that silly idea."

Eika didn't respond.

"Ei-chan?"

But Eika was asleep , dreaming of new friends , melon bread and forgotten people.

**First chapter done!I know, it isn't that great, but I promise that things will get better as the story progresses!**

**Until then , please give me feedback!**


	3. The Fading of Yuko

Shana and Yuji surveyed the damage from within the Fuzetsu.

"Could have been worse, I guess." Shana said, putting away her long sword and smiling at Yuji.

He didn't agree. "There are 50 odd torches there" he gestured to the various people down below them.

"If we hadn't intervened, it would have been 100 or 200 at least. Did you not see how fat that damn Rinne was?"

It had been very fat. Tomato-shaped, hungry and with apparently no vocabulary beyond "Food" and "Want" and "Yum", it had practically been a sitting duck.

"You have a point….we better get back to school before you put down the Fuzetsu."

"Come on then!" A rare, girlish smile spread across Shana's face as she looked at Yuji.

The two held hands, Shana sprouted her fiery wings, and they flew away from the hospital's roof and back to their friends.

10 minutes later, they were sitting on the school roof, chatting with the others. Eika was as cheerful as normal, her side ponytail bouncing madly as she started on yet another story. Yuko was not there to calm her sister down, being at the Hospital that day.

In the midst of this, Kazumi glanced at Shana

"Did it go OK?" She mouthed at her friend, being one of the few in the group that knew that Yuji and Shana had actually left school 10 minutes ago.

"Yes" she mouthed back. Kazumi smiled, satisfied. The whole Torch/Flame Haze/Guze no Tomogara thing freaked her out, and given a choice she probably would have stayed out of at the same time, now she _was _in it she didn't plan on abandoning it .Especially since good friends were involved.

"How-how did you know that?"

Tanaka's stuttered question pulled Kazumi back to the conversation.

Eika gave an evil smile.

"I just do…and you!Shana-Chan, Yuu-Chan!"

"What?" Yuji looked genuinely surprised.

"Don't give me that face; I know the two of you have been dating!"

"Ei-Chan, you've only been in this school 3 days, how do you know something like that?" Shana's cheeks were on fire.

Eika laughed and laughed and laughed. Eventually, Ike put a stop to Eika's teasing.

"Sakai and Shana are a pair most of our year group know anyway. And Ei-Chan, you're embarrassing them. Let's change the subject. Show us some of your designs."

"Of course, Aniki." Eika changed from mischievously evil to cute in a flash, still laughing.

The next day, Eika didn't come in laughing; instead, she was dragging her twin behind her, who was struggling to keep up with her crutches.

"Look, look!" She pointed at Yuko.

"What is it, Ei-Chan?" Kazumi asked.

"She's…..nee-Chan …blue….yesterday…..fading away….Par….going to go... They you get it?"

She looked like a crazy person, strands of hair falling out of the part of her fringe she had braided and tied back in her ponytail and the grey-blue eyes wide and panic filled. All they could do was look at her, wondering if they should lie for an easy life, or point out that she hadn't actually completed a sentence.

Ogata, feeling the awkwardness, turned to Yuko.

"You've stopped using the wheelchair?"

Yuko gave a tired smile.  
"Yeah, the doctor we saw yesterday said I should. Better to start sooner than later and all."

"Yeah...so before we know it, we'll have you in the netball team, right?"

"No, no. I never was able to cope with sports …,"Yuko yawned, and her voice became quieter." But, I will come and watch you one day."

Yuko laughed, and a now quietened Eika turned.

"Maybe I was wrong, perhaps you are going to be OK .Perhaps I'm just seeing things. Sorry."

"It's OK, little sis …" Yuko was cut off by the arrival of the teacher.

It was only as they scrambled to find their seats that Yuji, Shana and Kazumi took proper notice of Yuko, despite the fact that she was what Eika had appeared to be babbling about a while ago.

She definitely looked a bit tired, and dazed, but relatively normal as she settled in her chair and faced the board. But the blue, pulsing, flickering flame in her middle was proof of this not being the case.

Yuko Takahashi was now a torch.

After school, Shana and Yuji were sitting in the back garden of Yuji's house drinking juice and discussing Yuko.

"She's one of those of yesterday. "

"And you know this because….?" Shana was sceptical.

"Because she wasn't in school yesterday. She was at the hospital. We were on the roof of it."

"Oh." Shana's face clearly showed that she wanted to figure that out. "I knew that."

Yuji couldn't help but laugh.

"DON'T laugh!"

"Ok, ok!" he raised his hand s in mock surrender briefly. "But, if that's really the case, then her parents are torches as well…"

"So in a few days' time, Eika will have no family." Shana looked reflective.

"Something up, Shana?"

"Well…I've come across a lot of torches before. People have lost parents, sisters, relatives, friends without knowing they lost it….But never an entire family. Right, Alastor?"

The crimson god hanging around the Flame Haze's neck made a noise of agreement, but nothing more. He was formulating his own theories.

**Well, I think this chapter was better. Next one will be in Eika's POV , but third person. **

**Until next time , please give feedback! Thank you!**


	4. Families Grieve in Different Ways

Part of her felt glad, upon seeing the tell-tale blue flame within her sister. While she didn't wander around attending to her every little whim, she had had to be her sister's primary carer, especially back in elementary school. And while she didn't get away with murder, her sister's condition did mean she got away with a lot. So, the part of Eika that she did not wish to fully acknowledge was filled with joy at what she saw.

But the rest of her, the main part of her, was thrown into turmoil. She had to set herself up for a big loss, much the way a family who has a relative with terminal illness does. Except, she was grieving for a loss nobody would ever know about.

So when she went home that day , after that mad outburst , she went straight to her room , took her special notebook and pencils , and after helping Yuko and chatting to her mother(Who seemed relatively cheerful despite the small flame in her) for a little bit , she headed for her attic, the only upper level in the house.

Sitting in the corner, she opened it up, and looked through. Yukariko Takabayashi, the old lady in the old house who she used to visit every day on the way to school (to Yuko's forgotten annoyance) when she was in 4th grade. That woman had told so many stories, of love and innocence, war and sorrow, fun and family. She may have had more, but the blue flame that bloomed put an end to that just before the Christmas holidays. There was Emi, the little girl who lived down the road. She was possibly the most loved girl in the universe, the way her parents, and friends treated her…Until the day she failed to 's first boyfriend, a shy, awkward but cute guy who actually managed to see past the inability to walk fast, run, or participate in games and the lack of confidence that resulted, and see what Eika saw-a reliable, solid, kind Oogami…her first best friend…and many , many more.

She turned to the next blank page, trying not to look at the faces of those she had loved and lost, and picked up a pencil. Smoothing the page, she put the point to the paper, and soon a likeness of her parents and sister formed, brought to life in grey. It was something she had discovered when she had first noticed these people disappearing-if she drew them, then that would remain. Their belongings would not…unless those things stopped being theirs, and were someone else's possessions before they disappeared. Photos of them would also disappear…where they once were, there was a blank space. Eika had found (or stolen) many of these pictures where the blank space was unnatural. The last time she had filled in this notebook was the summer of 9th grade. Now, she would have to do this for her own family.

…

_I wonder if I will disappear too. If my parents never existed, then how can I have been born?"_

She just knew that they were going to leave her that day. That, particular day. It was apparent in her mother's dead-eyed look , her father still being asleep when she left for school…her sister's manners overall. She herself went through school a zombie, not caring if she didn't appear normal. It's not as though it really mattered-they wouldn't…couldn't understand what was happening. They were lucky. Lucky and normal. But despite that, she was determined to make it her sister's happiest day. So she did not complain at her sister's slowness. She made her favourite meal (rice and meatballs) for lunch. When they got home, she found her sister's favourite clothes and made her put them always liked to look smart.

That turned out to be the breaking point. It felt too much like dressing the body of a dead person for a wasn't dying, but it was the same and Dying. They even began with the same letter. Eika ran up to the attic, her only sanctuary , leaving her sister and mother downstairs doing…whatever it is they were doing. She went straight to the corner she had been in only a week ago, huddled up, and sat there until she fell asleep.

…

Eika woke up and her stomach was rumbling. That and the sound of birds could be heard. She stood up and groaned, her limbs were stiff from being squashed in a corner. Walking down the stairs unsteadily, she called out.

"Mum, Dad, why didn't you wake me up for breakfast? Or dinner…I'm late for school….Oh." Eika's eyes had fallen on the clock in the hallway which read 8:30, and then moved to the picture next to it.A family photo, taken from just before they moved to Misaki City .Her, Yuko, Mum and dad. Except, now it was just her in the picture, her arm around a blank space.

Angry, she pulled the picture down, smashed it on the floor. Then, without missing a beat, she called in sick. She spent the entire day collecting blank pictures and other mementoes that made no sense when placed with a girl who no longer had a family. The resulting bonfire was magnificent, large and full of beauty, despite what it was destroying.

Eika must have stared at the colours of it for hours, without eating, sleeping, or anything. When the sun set , she had decided what to do next.

…

She went back into school the next day, ignored questions; instead, she made a beeline for her Aniki, and hugged him.

"What's this about, Ei-chan?" He hugged her back, although he was quite obviously clueless. She let go of him, moved to hug Shana-Chan, Mii-Chan and then something stopped her. Something she had seen too many times before. Swallowing, she paused. Then…

"Do you, any of you remember someone called Yuko Takahashi?"

Yu-Chan, Mii-Chan and Shana-Chan paused, as though they didn't know what to say. Aniki answered her bluntly.

" ?"

"No…no reason." She knew it.

"Ei-Chan, you look pale. Are you sure it was OK to come into school today?" Mii-Chan asked.

Eika couldn't help but melt at her friend's concern.

"No, really, I'm fine." She beamed at them, and at that moment, Kei-Chan, Naka-Chan and Oga-Chan came in, and the subject of conversation conveniently drifted far away from her and Yuko.

…

January turned into February. Soon, they would all become second years. Eika was used to being a girl without family. Infact, she was getting to the point where she believed that this was how it had always been.

Almost.

After seeing the hesitation in Shana-Chan and the others when she asked about Yuko that day, she had become convinced that something was going on. That they knew something. Perhaps they were like her too. But if so, why not say something? Surely if that was true, they'd have noticed she was like that….

So she had taken to spying on them. Not all the time, just a day or two a week. Not that it helped. All she had observed was a sword fight between Yu-Chan and Shana-Chan, and Mii-Chan looking around shops for a straw hat .When Shana-Chan asked her about it , Mii-Chan had said it was for someone called "Khamsin-san", and when taking about this person she mentioned a "Behemoth-san" .As she had eventually realised , it didn't make sense , and she should really just give up.

That day, she was drawing some ideas for a new set of summer clothes. She had saved up some money and was planning to go over to the shops later, see if she could pick up some things from a charity shop as well as materials, and see if any of the ideas she had drawn could be brought to life using a combination of the two when her mobile phone rang.

_dareka no kuroshimu? Dareka no tame Ni kizutsuku?_

_Dareka no you Ni yorokobu? Dareka no you Ni kanashimu?_

_dareka no sei de kuroshimu? dareka no sei de kizutsuku?_

_Dareka no you Ni oshimu? Anata tame da Kara_

She sang along until she realised that was the phone. Sighing, she put down her pencil and picked up the phone,

"Yeah, Eika."

"Ei-Chan. Its Shana."

"Yes?Whats up?"

"Come around to Yuji's place."

"Eh?"

"Just come."

So she did. She exchanged brief pleasantries with Yu-Chan's mother, a pleasant woman who looked to be in early pregnancy stages, and then went to the back garden. Yu-Chan, Shana-Chan, Mii-Chan and someone she didn't know-a pink haired maid were sitting there, eating biscuits and talking intensely.

Mii-Chan looked up.

"Ei-Chan! You came!"

Eika took a seat next to kazumi.

" -Chan was rather blunt in her command. What's wrong? "Eika asked

"I think you know the answer to that, even if only in your subconscious."

The unexpected male voice that didn't appear to come from any of her friends nearly made Eika fall from her seat.

**A cliff-hanger!Should not be too hard to guess who it was though… Right?As for Eika's ringtone song… Guess it!If you can't, just ask and I'll PM the song title and artist.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Not too long to go till the story reaches its conclusion. Please leave feedback-and if needed, constructive criticism.**

**Thanks!**


	5. Explanations,Normality

**I am grateful for the three reviews I got for the last chapter!Since two were guest reviews , I can't personally reply to those ones , but thank you , I won't give up this story-besides , it is nearly finished **

**This chapter switches back to general 3****rd**** person POV.**

**Please enjoy!^^**

Shana glared down at Alastor, hanging around her neck.

"Do you really think that was the best way to start this?" She asked, her voice annoyed. Eika gave Shana a look.

"Who are you talking to?"

Shana pointed to the pendant hanging around her neck.

"Alastor, my contractor. He's a crimson lord, but he's in the form of a pendant for…that's beside the point anyway. The point is you know who and what he is."

Eika tilted her head, and regarded the necklace. Then she nodded.

"Then, nice to meet you, Arasu Toru –san .This means that you are not who you say you are, Shana-Chan?"

Yuji chuckled at Eika's pronunciation of the name, and said.

"Yes and isn't Yukari Hirai .She merely borrowed the real Hirai-san's existence .Sort of like having a new identity."

"The real Yukari Hirai was a torch. Her existence had been eaten." Shana added.

"Eaten?How can an existence be eaten? What do you mean an existence? "Eika was full of questions , and some of the aspects of her bouncy personality , the ones shown in her trying to get to know everyone showed up again.

For the next twenty minutes, Yuji, Shana, Alastor, Wilhelmina and Tiamat worked in turns , filling in the bare facts and filling the detail they thought Eika needed to know.

When they finished, Eika looked thoughtful.

"So…Yu-Chan won't disappear?"

" 're is stuck with me for a while!" Yuji smiled.

"So now, some questions for you, Ei-Chan." Kazumi said.

"Oh? "Eika looked at her. Kazumi had stated how she had gotten involved into the whole Flame Haze business, but said little else besides that.

" any of this ring bells? Even from the vague memories of preschool or something?"

Eika shook her head slowly, from side to side.

"No…."

"Then the involvement must have been when you were a baby. "Alastor said.

"What?" All over again, Eika was majorly confused.

"We reckon the reason you can see and detect torches close to you, and also have an instinct as to when someone is merely using the torch as an identity, is because you are known as a Compassionate." Alastor said.

Wilhelmina added." The term comes from the fact is that these people can only detect it from people they are close to. Family, Friends, lovers, neighbours, role models. Those sorts of people."

"Love at its strongest..." Tiamat chimed in.

"Usually these people have had a Flame Haze encounter at an early age. They will have been in contact for a long time, and told a lot, and even involved in some way in a Flame Haze battle." Wilhelmina continued." However, at such a young age , they are unlikely to remember these things…but the knowledge remains …an instinct , if you like. A child does not remember how they learnt to walk, but they know that sometime in their lives they must have learnt a bit like that."

"Oh. There are more like me? "Eika wanted to know.

"Some get lucky, and go to work in Outlaw. A few become Flame hazes. Some just keep quiet about it , thinking they are cursed. Ghost stories have been made from many of these people, who did not know what they saw. And the unlucky few who try to speak out get branded as crazy, and their lives are psychiatric back- wards, pills and being forever shunned." Kazumi answered.

Eika's eyes were wide.

"You have the instinct, you now have the knowledge. What, Eika Takahashi, are you going to do with it?" Alastor asked her.

The question hung in the air, Eika clearly unsure how to answer .Then Chigusa came out into the garden, and the conversation turned to other things.

…

Eika looked at her phone ,where the screen was waiting for her to type in a text message.

She sighed, typing it in , all the while thinking about what she had heard that day.

"How come Aniki and Oga-Chan don't know about this?"

The reply came back rapidly.

"Not really my place to tell you the details, but Ogata-Chan got involved unwittingly with the flame haze business, and as a result, Tanaka-kun wants to keep her safe by keeping her ignorant. As for Ike-kun, would it really be fair if only one person in the group was kept out of the loop?"

"Thanks, Mii-chan." Eika turned off her phone and got out of bed. Time for was pretty obvoisu what her decision was. But she had a life to get on with.A happy life.

…

"Well, that's one year out of the way!"

"And we all passed. Even Satou and Tanaka..." Matake looked at Tanaka as she said this, and laughed as Tanaka pulled a face.

"You suggesting we're stupid?"

"Not at all, not at all." They all laughed.

"At least we can slack off for a month." Yuji added. "I intend to store up some sleep. When my baby brother or sister is born in July, sleep is probably something we won't get a lot of."

Eika walked, or, more accurately, bounced ahead , then turned and looked at them.

"Nah! You guys are all helping me." She announced, big smile.

They all looked blank.

"With what, exactly, Ei-Chan?" Hayato asked.

"Well, you know that my club are doing a fashion show for the school festival next year, so, I kind of need some models…"

"Oh no!" Keisaku shook his head and his eyes widened in mock horror "Oh no , tell me you didn't.."

Eika didn't even bother to looks sheepish. Infact , she appeared infinitely pleased with herself. "I've told them that you guys can be our models!"

The cries of protest that rang through the street were punctuated with laughter.

It was a normal day.

**Well…I was attempting to drag this out into 2 chapters, but it didn't work out. Therefore , this story is now finished. Hope you are satisfied , all the same.**

**Thanks for reading , everyone who did.**


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